anker worm, the
various cut worms, and other noxious caterpillars? A law carried out by
a proper State entomological constabulary, if it may be so designated,
would compel the idle and shiftless to clear their farms and gardens of
noxious animals.

[Illustration: 46. Pickle Worm and its Moth.]

Among some of the injurious insects reported on by Mr. Riley, the State
Entomologist of Missouri, is a new pest to the cucumber in the West, the
Pickle worm (Phacellura nitidalis, Fig. 46). This is a caterpillar which
bores into the cucumbers when large enough to pickle, and which is
occasionally found in pickles. Three or four worms sometimes occur in a
cucumber, and in the garden a single one will cause it to rot. One of
the most troublesome intruders in our graperies is the Vine dresser
(Choerocampa pampinatrix, Fig. 47, larva and pupa; Fig. 48, adult), a
single caterpillar of which will sometimes "strip a small vine of its
leaves in a few nights," and occasionally nips off bunches of half-grown
grapes.

[Illustration: 48. Vine Dresser Moth.

47. Vine Dresser and Chrysalis.]

Another caterpillar, which is sometimes so abundant as nearly to
defoliate the grape vine, is the eight spotted Alypia (Fig. 49; _a_,
larva; _b_, side view of a segment). This must not be confounded with
the bluish larva of the Wood Nymph, Eudryas grata (Fig. 50), which
differs from the Alypia caterpillar in being bluish, and in wanting the
white patches on the side of the body, and the more prominent hump on
the end of the body. Another moth (Psychomorpha epimenis, Fig. 51,
_a_, larva; _b_, side view of a segment; _c_, top view of the hump),
also feeds on the grape, eating the terminal buds. It is also bluish,
and wants the orange bands on the side of the body. Another moth of this
family is the American Procris (Acoloithus Americana, Fig. 52_a_, larva;
_b_, pupa; _c_, cocoon; _d_, _e_, imago); a dark blue moth, with a deep
orange collar, whose black and yellow caterpillar is gregarious (Fig.
53), living in companies of a dozen or more and eating the softer parts
of the leaves. It is quite common in the Western and Southern States.
The figure represents two separate broods of caterpillars feeding on
either side of the midrib of the leaf. But if the moths are, as a rule,
the enemies of our crops, there are the silk worms of the East and
Southern Europe and California, which afford the means of support to
multitudes of the poorer classes, and supply